Panasonic has announced pricing and full specification info for the eagerly-awaited AU-EVA1. List price will be coming in at €7,290 and we’re told it will produce 14 stops of dynamic range.
Cine Gear Expo was the chosen platform for Panasonic to announce their compact cinema camera; at that time we were given top line information on the spec of the AU-EVA1:
4K down-sampled from a 5.7K sensor, dual native ISO, 5.7K raw output, 4K 60p, 2K 240p, Super 35, native EF mount… it sure looked a nice compact package.
Today Panasonic has disclosed a full specification list for the AU-EVA1. Here are the highlights:
Pixel count of 5720 H x 3016 V (17.25 million)
Dual native ISOs will be 800 and 2500
14 stops of dynamic range
Intra 400M codec full info (future release)
Flavours of 422 and 420LongGOP full info
One shot record for stop motion capture
4K output through SDI and HDMI
“The EVA1’s 5.7K Super-35 sensor has almost twice as many photosites as 4K… That means the 4K videos recorded in the camera will be crystal clear with rich colour information. The EVA1 also inherits the unique dual native ISO sensor technology from our cinema VariCam line, allowing it to shoot in bright sunlight or night exteriors without compromising the image quality. And the 14 stops of dynamic range capture a huge scope of exposure detail.”
Luc Bara, Technical Product Manager for Panasonic.
Panasonic has emphasized its intent on providing a 5.7K sensor for clean 4K recording, one that is now stated to produce up to 14 stops of dynamic range.
Dual ISO ratings are now confirmed at 800 and 2500, a stop less sensitive in the top end than the larger VariCam cameras.
Codec options for the AU-EVA1 is now more clear, with 4:2:2 10-bit and 4:2:0 8-bit LongGOP codecs available from FullHD to 4K, ranging from 50 to 150 Mbps (VBR). A later flagship 4:2:2 10-bit Intra codec will be made available in a future release also (400M for 4K, 100M/200M for 2K/HD).
The full specification contains usual, useful information including battery operating times, media recording times and full in/out lists. Check out the full specs in the below images:
If you missed the original announcement, check out our article here, also below is the video we shot at CineGear 2017:
Panasonic seems to have really woken up to the cinema camera market, with the AU-EVA1 offering strong competition to Sony and Canon in the entry-level market.
The Panasonic AU-EVA1 is still expected to ship in the 3rd quarter of 2017, with a now-suggested list price of €7290
Pre-Order at B&H (USA): LINK
Pre-Order at CVP (EU): LINK

Since the annual Inter Bee (International Broadcast Equipment Exhibition) is taking place in Sony’s home country, it’s time to catch up with the company and chat about their latest developments. How about X-OCN – their new compressed raw codec – announced half a year ago, for example?
Sony’s X-OCN Codec
It’s been a while since its initial announcement, but the newly developed X-OCN codec by Sony seems to be very promising. The first and only application for this codec for the time being is with the so-called AXS-R7 recorder module, which is designed especially for the Sony PMW-F5 and F55 range of cine cameras. You can read all about this recorder in this article.
As a tiny refresher, X-OCN stands for eXtended tonal range Original Camera Negative, and if you’re thinking of RED’s signature compressed RAW workflow called REDcode, it’s actually not that far off. X-OCN offers 16-bit of latitude straight from the sensor but it’s capable of outputting significantly smaller filesizes than pure RAW footage.
The Sony F5 camera with an AXS-R7 recorder attached. For now this is the only way to record X-OCN.
As time went by, news about X-OCN quickly became quiet. Blackmagic announced DaVinci Resolve support for this new codec, but other than that, nothing.
At this years Inter BEE – taking place in Chiba City, Japan – our very own Johnnie Behiri took the opportunity to talk with Sony’s Yutaka Okahashi about this promising codec and its possible future applications.
X-OCN in Mirrorless Cameras?
Since X-OCN is a high-end codec, it seemed unlikely to see this technologly implemented in Sony camera models further downstream, such as their popular mirrorless lines of cameras. Anyone interested in a Sony A7s II with compressed RAW recording? Well, Mr. Okahashi mentions exactly that… after a little push from Johnnie. But it seems it could be possible to implement such high-end technology in the somewhat lower end cameras (from a F5 perspective) in the future. For now, though, these models live in a X-AVC universe. This codec comes in different flavours, caters 4K as well as HD and is widely implemented in NLEs. But it is a compressed format, far off from RAW.
If we think of the $7,000 Sony AXS-R7 recorder as a proof of concept, maybe things will get interesting in the not too distant future. What about forgetting compressed formats altogether and going all in, with the full sensor latitude in a pocket-sized camera? Now that sounds like a bright future, indeed. Let’s hope that Sony is listening.
As Johnnie puts it:
The rule is very simple. If you don’t make it, somebody else will make it.”
What do you think about his type of codec? Does it seem promising to you or are you happy with the current compressed formats available in mirrorless cameras? Let us know in the comments below.

Confused about XAVC-S, XAVC-L, XAVC-I? We spoke to Claus Pfeifer from Sony Europe about the Sony FS5 and how it uses XAVC in a surprising way.
The latest addition to the sony digital cinema camera family, the Sony FS5 has caused quite a stir. We wanted to follow up on some open questions. Will the FS7 receive a 240fps firmware upgrade? What are the main differences between the FS7 and FS5? Which codec is used in which situation and what are the benefits? All questions answered in our exclusive interview.
Interestingly, we found out that the 240fps high speed shooting mode is “only” a burst mode similar to the FS700, not like in the FS7, where you can record 180fps continuously internally if you use the faster XQD memory cards.
A big junk of the interview was dedicated to learn about XAVC. Nino asked Claus about XAVC-L, which is an interframe codec (as opposed to XAVC-I, which is intraframe), with the FS5 being the first camera using XAVC-L as its exclusive codec. It’s 4:2:0 color space in UHD (the “broadcast 4K”) and 4:2:2 color space in 1080p resolutions.
As a reminder here are the specs of the new camera. See the details in our Sony FS5 announcement article.
Sensor Size: 4352 x 2662, 11.6 Megapixels (8.4 Megapixels Effective)
Sensor type – EXMOR 4K Super35mm
E-Mount Lens type
S-Gamut3.Cine & S-Log3
Native 3,200 ISO with 14 Stops of Dynamic Range
Built in Electric Variable ND from 1/4 to 1/128
Codec: XAVC-L
3840 x 2160 8-bit, 4:2:0, up to 30fps continuous.
1080p 10-bit 4:2:2 up to 60fps continuous
S&Q Mode: 120, 240, 480, 960 fps (buffered like FS700)
Less than 5 sec boot time, Direct Access Menu, No rebooting for Rec format changes, etc.,
2K Center Crop
4K RAW output via future firmware
Dual SD Card Slots
Built-in microphone
Dual XLR input (one on body, one on handle)
3G-SDI, 4K HDMI, WiFi, Wired LAN,
Same batteries as FS7
Weighs: 0.8kg
List Price: $6,700 without lens, $7,300 with 18-105mm f/4 PRE-ORDER HERE

Ever wondered how long those cards would last on that camera?
Or whether all those rushes would fit on that one hard drive?
How about whether your edit system would like that file type?
Or whether that specific codec is supported by that specific camera?
Grey Hour Media has produced an app that answers all those questions. Formats is an easy-to-use catalogue of commonly used codecs, cameras and editing software and how each of them work and line up against each other.
The Formats app has three main tabs, Camera, Formats and Calculator.
The Cameras library is a comprehensive list of commonly used & hired cameras, with information on all available in-camera codecs. Expanding on a camera system will provide you information such as compatible resolutions, framerates, bit rates, sampling and color space.
The Formats tab is a long list of popular (you guessed it) codecs & formats. The page has a simple color coding system highlighting whether a format is suitable for Acquisition, Intermedate or Delivery use (or any combination of the three).
Expanding on a format provides you information on how it gets on with the top NLE software packages (FCP 7 & 10, Premier Pro and Avid) as well as a long specification list including compatible resolution, framerates, bit depth, sampling, color space and audio channels.
The third tab is a very useful Calculator. Starting with either the format or camera and inputting your framerate duration and resolution will provide you with a filesize. This will be a fantastic tool for in-the-field calculations; working out whether you’ll have enough cards for a shoot, what compression ratio to set your RED to, or whether to pick ProRes LT over HQ.
With the abundance of camera formats now out there, it’s easy to get lost with which system can do what, with the Formats app this information is now at your fingertips. I can see this working great with kit you plan to hire and want the quick specs of, and working out how much hard drive space to allocate for certain projects.
The Formats app is currently available for iOS only, and can be purchased here.

China based camera manufacturer Kinefinity is known for their very affordable RAW shooting cameras that were released earlier this year. Now they introduced a new codec that improves storage space by 3x.
Kinefinity has created a lot of headlines for their very affordable 4K KineMINI camera and the 6K KineMAX that is to arrive next.
We notice that Kinefinity is still working on improving the camera firmware and eco system around it. The introduction of their proprietary KineRAW codec and the continued improvement of the internal color matrix is just another step in making their cameras more accessible to filmmakers.
Previously users could only record uncompressed DNG files in camera, the KineRAW codec promises a 3:1 compression without loss of quality.
The new codec will be available soon.
For more information check out their website: www.kinefinity.tv
image via newsshooter

Not quite, but it has a nice ring doesn’t it? Japanese broadcasters NHK are further pushing notions for 8k broadcast streams by 2016. Broadcast Engineering have published an article highlighting an 8K camera by Astro Design, presented at NHK’s Open House.
The camera features a 2.5in, 33-megapixel CMOS sensor. Producing 8k output and 4K monitoring. Another product at the Open House also unveiled development of the world’s first HEVC/H.265 real-time encoder for 8K Ultra HD.

A little more than a year ago Panasonics video dslr the GH1 was hacked. It was an amazing breakthrough that made a barely useful hdslr a real 5D competitor. Many people claimed the hacked GH1 would even outmatch the 5D mark ii in terms of picture quality.
The GH2 was released in October 2010 as a successor to the GH1 and has some very convincing advantages in terms of image quality over Canon’s lineup. Compared to the 60D and 7D, the GH2 has virtually no moire, less rolling shutter and even delivers a sharper picture in some occasions.